


Nothing But A Memory

by drforrester



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode: s04e18 The End of Time (2), Gen, Not really a canon rewrite - just read it to find out what it is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-21 09:01:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17639780
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drforrester/pseuds/drforrester
Summary: The Doctor is relieved to have seemingly outwitted the prophecy which predicted his death. As he leaves Earth to return to the Ood and question his survival, he receives a mysterious signal that causes the TARDIS to crashland on an uninhabited planet. Investigating the source of the signal, he finds the most unexpected thing of all: the Master.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Just a quick note that “//“ represents a CHANGE between the present time and a dream/memory and “/“ simply represents a scene change WITHIN the present or a dream/memory. 
> 
> Another note is that when I mention the Master’s “energy fluctuations” I’m talking about when his head does the skull thing. That was the best way I could think to describe it. 
> 
> Also: proofread to the best of my ability but as always, if you notice any grammatical errors, please comment and I will fix them! 
> 
> Thanks and happy reading!

A flash of light and it was all gone. 

The Master, Rassilon, Gallifrey, all sent back into the time-lock and Earth and humanity restored. 

The Doctor sat up, rubbing his head. He was alive.

He laughed as the relief washed over him and the only words he could think to say were “I’m alive... I’m still alive!” 

How this was possible he didn’t know and, at that moment, he didn’t particularly care. He had beaten the prophecy and the Earth and humanity were saved. All was well. 

Just then, he heard hurried footsteps coming towards the door and looked up to see Wilfred running towards him, panting heavily.

“Got here as quick as I could, Doctor. What’s going on? Are you alright?” 

“Yeah,” the Doctor said, still in awe of his luck. “Yeah I’m great, Wilf.” 

And with that, he shot to his feet. “I’m amazing! Never felt better in my life!” 

Wilfred was taken aback but nevertheless pleased by the Doctor’s well-being. “So that red planet in the sky... and the Master...?” 

“Gone!” the Doctor announced. 

“And humans,” Wilfred continued, “they’re...”

“All better!” The Doctor finished, grinning. 

“Well that’s wonderful, isn’t it?” Wilfred said. “You’ve done it again, Doctor!” 

“I suppose I have...” the Doctor said, contemplating for a moment the Master who saved his life now trapped in time-locked Gallifrey that would soon burn and be gone forever. 

Wilfred watched as the Doctor’s smile fell with concern. 

“What about that prophecy then, Doctor? The Master was gonna kill you, wasn’t he? But now he’s gone, yes?”

“Yeah,” the Doctor said quietly, staring at the destroyed gate through which the Master had disappeared. “Look, Wilf, I’d better be going.” 

“So soon?” Wilfred said, disappointed. “I was just thinking, now that Donna remembers, maybe you could-“

“Another time, Wilf,” the Doctor said, gently. “I promise I’ll be back when I can but there’s something I have to do first. You take care of her, alright?” 

“Yes, sir,” Wilfred replied, saluting. “As always, it’s been an honor, Doctor.” 

“The honor is mine, Wilfred Mott,” the Doctor smiled, saluting back. 

With that, the Doctor, pressed a button on his keys, causing the TARDIS to appear beside him, waved a final goodbye to Wilfred, and stepped inside. 

The Doctor did not have to think about where to set his navigation towards. As much as it pained him, he needed to visit the Ood again. 

Every prophecy foretold that his song was ending yet here we was, alive, having survived what was nearly the end of time itself. There was something wrong. 

Not to mention the mystery of the Ood’s newfound ability to see through time. That also needed to be solved before he could afford to have any fun. 

With heavy hearts, he set the TARDIS to take him back to the Ood. 

As the TARDIS disappeared from Earth and began to travel through time, the Doctor thought again of the Master and his final act. It was so uncharacteristic of him to sacrifice himself, even if it was only to get revenge on Rassilon. Was it possible that his motivation went any further than revenge? Could he have had any real desire to save the Doctor’s life or was that just wishful thinking? 

An alarm from the TARDIS’s navigation system interrupted his train of thought and he walked up to it to investigate. 

It was receiving a strange signal coming from an uninhabited planet in a star system the Doctor had never visited before which seemed to be interfering with its ability to navigate properly. 

Just as the Doctor began to ponder what the source of this unfamiliar signal could be, more alarms blared over his thoughts. The TARDIS was crash-landing. 

“No no no no!” the Doctor shouted at the failing systems to no avail. He pushed buttons and pulled levers in a frenzied state but it seemed that nothing could stop the TARDIS’s course to crash-land on the very planet the signal was emanating from. 

With no other options left, the Doctor held onto the TARDIS machinery for dear life as they made their final descent and finally made contact with the surface of the planet. 

Losing his grip as the TARDIS hit the ground, the Doctor slammed into one of the walls and toppled unceremoniously onto the floor. 

He sat up quickly, checking himself for serious injuries and fortunately finding none. He then studied the TARDIS’s control center and found that most if not all of it was damaged. 

With luck, it wouldn’t take him more than a day to repair but it was hard to assess the true amount of damage until he began taking the panels off of the various systems to fix them. 

Just then, he noticed the signal on the navigation system still blinking. It was close. 

Before the Doctor could even think about repairing the TARDIS, he would have to figure out what caused it to malfunction in the first place both to make sure it didn’t happen again and also just for the simple curiosity of it. 

Exiting the TARDIS cautiously, the Doctor noted thankfully that the outside of the TARDIS did not appear to have taken on much damage from the crash. 

Taking in a breath of the planet’s air through his nose he smelled something familiar but unexplainable. 

It smelled like the Master. 

But it couldn’t be. The Master was trapped inside the time-lock on Gallifrey. It was impossible that he could be here but, that scent was so distinct. It had to be and yet it couldn’t be.

Following his nose, the Doctor walked around the planet’s rock formations until he reached a peak. From there, he could see what appeared to be someone laying on the ground wearing a black hoodie and sweatpants about fifty yards away. Without thinking, he took off running towards what was surely yet impossibly the Master. 

The Doctor arrived next to the unconscious form and was relieved to see that the Master appeared to be alive and unhurt. He knelt down and shook the other Time Lord gently but the Master stayed stubbornly asleep. 

Seeing no other option, the Doctor picked the Master up and began carrying him back to the TARDIS. 

He was getting a very strange feeling about this situation. Why would he just happen to crash-land on a planet and find the Master there right after he had seen him get sucked into the time-lock. And what was this signal that had caused him to crash in the first place and why was it seemingly emanating from the Master? The Doctor hoped that he would be able to get all of these answers once the Master regained consciousness. 

He carefully carried the Master through the door of the TARDIS and laid him down in a bed usually used by his companions and guests. 

The Doctor pulled up a chair next to the bed and sighed. He could be waiting a good while.

//

The Master was hurtling towards the ground like a comet. He could see the red grass of the countrysides much like his memories of the grass on his father’s estates from his childhood but now it was singed and dead. With luck, all of Gallifrey would be dead soon. 

‘Let it burn,’ he thought. ‘Let it all burn.’ 

He hit the ground with relative grace, landing in a crouching position and immediately began to look for any signs of Rassilon. It was time to finish what he had started. 

He spotted the Lord President quickly, who appeared to have hit the ground on his back but was already beginning to sit up. 

The Master rose to his feet, rubbing his hands together to conduct the electricity as his energy fluctuated several times. He bit back the pain of his aching head and started towards Rassilon. 

“Capture him! Capture this traitorous freak!” Rassilon was shouting and before the Master could shoot a single energy blast, he found himself surrounded by Rassilon’s guards. 

He shot a guard with the blast instead, but more guards were closing in quickly and the pain from the energy he was expending was becoming overwhelming. 

Shooting another blast at a second guard, his energy began to fluctuate rapidly causing his face to change multiple times. 

The guards, who had been about to grab hold of him, stepped back in fear. 

The Master laughed. “Are you afraid of me?” he asked them as he continued to fluctuate. “Well you should be!” 

With that, he shot off one last energy blast at a third guard, so powerful that it knocked the guard off his feet as it hit his chest but the exertion proved to be too much and the last thing the Master heard before slipping into unconsciousness was Rassilon’s voice booming “Seize him you cowards!” 

/

The Master awakened suddenly to a kick to his stomach, opening his eyes to see Rassilon before him

He struggled to move but quickly realized that he was bound by cord too powerful for him to break. 

“Now then,” Rassilon said, “it seems that despite yours and the Doctor’s best efforts, the Time Lords will return yet.” 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” the Master asked. “This planet burns tonight and you with it.” 

“Gallifrey may burn but the Time Lords will ascend into glory and, as the new prophecy foretells, you will be the unwitting instrument of our salvation.” Rassilon announced. “Otherwise, you would be dead by now, you diseased traitor.” 

“I will die,” the Master said, his expression cold, “before I see a single one of you live.” 

He spat at Rassilon’s feet. 

Enraged, Rassilon raised his gauntleted hand, causing the Master’s energy to fluctuate so strongly that he felt that the seams of his body were coming apart. 

The Master clenched his teeth in pain but did not take his eyes off of Rassilon until he finally let his hand fall and the fluctuations stopped. 

As the Master panted with exhaustion, Rassilon snorted with disgust. 

“Get this pathetic excuse for a Time Lord out of my sight. Take him to the dungeons,” he demanded. 

Just as his guards began dragging the Master towards the dungeons, Rassilon raised his bare hand, signaling them to stop.

“One more thing for you,” Rassilon addressed the Master. 

Without saying a word, he raised the gauntlet once more and for a moment, the Master was sure Rassilon meant to kill him but suddenly he realized what had been done. 

The drums were gone. 

It couldn’t be. It was impossible. But sure enough, he listened for a moment and heard nothing but silence. After all these years he was finally free. 

He laughed aloud with relief but just as tears of joy began to flood down his face, he saw Rassilon smirking at him. 

“I’m glad that you find my gift to you to your liking,” he said. “I think you will soon come to realize the true implications of this torment.” 

//

On the TARDIS, the Master shot bolt upright in bed and, before the Doctor could react or even formulate a question to ask, he spoke. 

“The drums are gone.”


	2. Chapter 2

“How did you get out of the time-lock? What happened on Gallifrey? How did you end up on this planet? Are you feeling alright?”

The Master stared at the wall in front of him, barely listening to the Doctor’s questions over the sound of nothing in his head. 

“Did you not hear me, Doctor? The drums, they’re gone!” The Master said at last, cutting the Doctor off mid-question. 

“What do you mean they’re gone? How? Why?” The Doctor asked, desperate for information. 

The Master shook his head. “They’re just gone. I don’t know how or why. I don’t remember.” 

“Well do you remember anything else? Surely you must remember something about what happened to you after you were trapped in the time-lock and how you got here,” The Doctor insisted. “Please, anything you remember. This is crucial.” 

“I... I...” the Master said, wracking his brain for any memory of anything. “I was shooting Rassilon back into the time-lock, there was a bright light and then...” 

The Doctor’s eyes widened. “And then?” 

“Nothing,” the Master said, rubbing his aching temple. 

“But there must be something. Nothing should have been able to escape the time-lock so how are you here?” the Doctor asked, more forcefully than he had intended.

“How many times must I tell you, Doctor? I don’t know! I can’t remember!” the Master shouted and, as he emphasized the last word, his energy fluctuated and he gripped his head in pain. 

The Doctor’s expression fell to one of concern. “I’m sorry. Look, it’s not that important. What we need to focus on is figuring out how to get you better. There’s got to be something out there that can mend the tear letting all your energy out.” 

“Yeah,” the Master said, trying to keep the doubt out of his voice.

“Hey now, there is a cure and we’re gonna find it. Together,” the Doctor said, smiling reassuringly. 

The Master nodded, still not entirely confident that he could be healed but appreciating the sentiment anyhow. 

“Now,” the Doctor began, “you just rest here for a bit. I’ll be in the control room doing some repairs.”

“Repairs?” the Master asked, amused. “Quite a shape you keep your TARDIS in, huh?”

The Doctor was indignant. “I’ll have you know that my TARDIS was working perfectly well until I got a signal from this planet and it set all the systems running funny. Crash-landed here and found you.”

“That’s a weird coincidence,” the Master said, feeling more naked than ever without his memories of time-locked Gallifrey. 

“Coincidences happen all across the universe every second of every day but to find you here like this... That’s no coincidence. There’s something larger at work here,” the Doctor said, unable to hide the worry from his voice. 

The Master closed his eyes and thought hard but after the bright light there was just nothing. But if something larger really was at work, then he needed to remember sooner rather than later. 

The Doctor rose from his chair by the Master’s bed and headed towards the exit, he stopped in the doorway. “I’ll be in the control room but remember, if you need me or if you remember anything, let me know straightaway.” 

Saluting the Doctor jokingly, the Master watched him leave the room and then fell into a contemplative state. 

There had to be an explanation for all of this but whatever it was was locked away inside his forgotten memories. There had to be something. If he could just think...

But soon, the Master felt his exhausted body being pulled towards sleep once again and he could not resist. 

Before he knew it, he was in a deep sleep. 

//

In a dingy cell in the dungeons, the Master laid alone, his mind unfocused. There was so much to think about and yet he couldn’t seem to concentrate on a single thing. 

Suddenly an insistent tapping met his ears. It was in a pattern of four. 

Snapping to attention, he listened intently and there it was again... Except that it was his own finger tapping on the cell floor producing the sound. 

He heaved a sigh of annoyance and focused on keeping his finger still. Yet as soon as his mind began to wander, he found himself tapping again in the same pattern, the same as the drums that had, until now, filled his mind. 

He put his hands over his face and kicked his legs in frustration. Being free of the drums should have been a relief. 

But Rassilon’s parting words to him echoed in his head: “I think you will soon come to realize the true implications of this torment.”

For who was he, really, without the drums? What did he have now if not them? What did he have to be proud of in this cursed universe now that his final day was upon him? Who did he have to turn to? Who even cared? 

It was so easy. So easy to blame others for his own flaws and wrongdoings. But now, after all this time, could he really look inside of himself? Or was he too terrified of what he might find there? To find that maybe, just maybe, he deserved what he had coming.

How many centuries had he wasted? And all for what? To die here, alone and rejected without even his own insanity to comfort him? He laughed mirthlessly. 

Of course, there was one who had not rejected him. His mind wandered back to Earth where the Doctor, tied up and helpless, offered him the opportunity to explore the universe with him, as if it was his place to negotiate such things. How very like the Doctor to fancy himself as some sort of savior of wayward souls. 

But then, what if, despite everything, he had taken that offer? Well, he wouldn’t be dying alone on time-locked Gallifrey, that much was certain. Though perhaps there never was any real chance. The Doctor just wanted to get free and then the Master would have found himself chained to the TARDIS just to keep him out of trouble. Or perhaps this was just his own wishful thinking and he had indeed squandered his last chance to escape this fate. 

And what of the Doctor now? Had he even given the man who had saved his life a second thought? Or had the Master simply disappeared into the time-lock with the rest of the Doctor’s problems, leaving the Doctor to walk away with all of his loose ends tied up in a neat little bow? 

What did it matter now? Now he was just one life out of billions about to be extinguished for good. No coming back this time. 

Now the Doctor really would be the last of the Time Lords. But that had been what he wanted, hadn’t it? For the Doctor to be left to wander the universe alone? Of course, he’d surely find enough human girls to fill his time and eventually the Master would be nothing but a distant memory. 

What was the point of it all? If the universe was trying to teach him some grand lesson, he was learning it far too late. There was no getting out of this now. He had made his choice when he saved the Doctor’s life. His sorry existence was over at last. There was nothing left to do but wait for it all to end. 

The sound of his finger tapping the rhythm of four again filled his ears and suddenly he found himself laughing hysterically. His entire life wasted and who’s fault was it really but his own? 

He laughed until tears streamed down his face and his energy began to fluctuate. It hurt and yet still he laughed. Because it was all just so funny. 

But as he laughed, a coldness came over him and the air became so heavy that it seemed to suck the laughter right out of his lungs. 

He sat up and wiped the tears from his eyes. As he opened them again, he jumped at the sight of a figure dressed in white standing outside his cell although he had heard no approaching footsteps. 

Taking a closer look, he realized that the figure was of a woman. She looked so familiar but from so long ago. 

Just as he opened his mouth to ask who she was, she put her finger to her lips and leaned down, slipping a scroll of parchment paper through the bars of his cell. 

Without thinking, he scampered forward on his hands and knees to retrieve it. Picking it up, he looked up to address the woman but, with a start, realized that she was gone. 

He looked around for a moment, trying to comprehend what had just happened but quickly, as though somehow compelled, turned his attentions back to the paper in his hand. 

Unrolling it, he realized with shock that it was a prophecy written in circular Gallifreyan, likely penned by the Visionary herself. Could it have been the prophecy Rassilon spoke of? 

He began to read through its cryptic phrases and soon found one that referred to him. It appeared to indicate a change that would take place regarding him and a poison box. 

What did it mean? What poison box? 

//

The Master was ripped from sleep as if awaking from a nightmare and yet he could not remember having any dreams at all. Still, one thought filled his mind: 

Back on Earth, he had felt a strange urge to order one of his doppelgängers to turn off the radiation chambers right before Rassilon turned them back into humans.


	3. Chapter 3

The Doctor sat next to an open panel on the TARDIS controls, studying the damage carefully. What he needed to repair this was... 

His eyes wandered about the control room and finally came to rest upon the exact tool he needed, strewn among several others by the door.

He clapped his hands together and was about to retrieve it when suddenly, the Master appeared in the doorway. 

“Ah, perfect timing!” the Doctor exclaimed, smiling widely. “Could you hand me the whatchamacallit?”

The Master was bewildered. “The what?” 

The Doctor pointed insistently at the pile of tools. “You know, the doohickey.” 

Following the Doctor’s pointer finger to the tools, the Master sighed with annoyance. “Which one?” 

“Oh come now, the thingamajig!” the Doctor said, making vague hand motions as if this clarified the situation at all.

“This one?” the Master asked, having selected a tool from the pile at random. 

The Doctor frowned. “No, not that one. The one next to it.” 

The Master was at his wits end. 

“It’s a pile! There’s nothing next to-“ He selected another tool at random. “This one?”

“That’s the one!” the Doctor announced happily and caught the tool even as the Master threw it at him a bit harder than he had expected. 

Within a matter of seconds, the panel he was repairing was fixed. The Doctor laughed and addressed the Master. “And all thanks to your help!” 

Just as the Master was rolling his eyes at this, he felt an energy fluctuation coming on, stronger than the ones before it. 

As pain flooded his head, his knees gave out and he was barely aware that he was falling to the ground until he felt someone catch him. 

As the fluctuation stopped at last he opened his eyes to see the Doctor holding him up in a kneeling position, looking more concerned than ever. 

Not long ago, this concern would have disgusted the Master and he would have shoved the Doctor off of him but right now, he had to put his pride away for once in his life and focus on telling the Doctor what he had remembered. 

“Look, we’re gonna get you better. I promise,” the Doctor said gently as he set the Master leaning up against a piece of the TARDIS’s machinery. “You’re gonna be just fine, alright?” 

The Master caught a hint of self-reassurance in the Doctor’s voice but he forced himself to ignore the lump developing in his own throat in favor of addressing the more important matter at hand. 

“I’ve remembered something,” the Master said, finally fulfilling his purpose for coming into the TARDIS control room in the first place. 

The Doctor looked up, suddenly snapped out of his saddened state. “What is it? What do you remember?”

“Well, do you remember on Earth when I ordered the other versions of myself to shut of the radiation chambers?” the Master asked. “It was right after you came through the ceiling.”

The Doctor winced at the memory of coming through the ceiling but vaguely recalled what the Master was referring to. “Yeah, but what’s so important about that?” 

“I...” the Master thought for a moment. “I’m not sure except that it was like I was so strongly compelled to do it.” 

“But what about Gallifrey? How did you get out of the time-lock? You still don’t remember that?” the Doctor asked, disappointedly. 

The Master was insistent. “No but this... I’m telling you this has to be important! I just woke up with this feeling that this was something you needed to know but I can’t remember why.” 

But the Doctor was right: if the Master couldn’t remember this missing link of information, then they would surely realize what larger scheme was at work here far too late. But no matter how hard he thought, there was just nothing after the bright light of the time-lock closing and it was frustrating to no end. 

Even without the drums, it felt like he had no control over his life and what happened to him. What good was he if couldn’t even remember crucial information like how he had escaped the time-lock? Here we was, losing his life-force rapidly and still completely useless. What was the point anymore? 

Suddenly, without warning, he was overcome with an energy fluctuation even worse than the last one. The pain was so intense as it moved not only through his skull but shot through his entire body that he helplessly found himself losing consciousness and at once, knew nothing. 

//

Still not fully understanding the first part of the prophecy, the Master began to read the second phrase but before he could take in a single word, he heard heavy footsteps coming towards him. 

Hurriedly, he stuffed the paper into his pocket just as Rassilon and three guards turned the corner and arrived outside his cell. 

“Restrain the prisoner,” Rassilon ordered to his guards. “And cover his mouth this time.” 

Before the Master could even think about conducting enough electricity to defend himself, two guards took ahold of each of his arms, pulling him to his feet while the other taped his mouth shut. He struggled against their grips uselessly as his energy began to fluctuate and he fell limp with exhaustion. 

“That’s better,” Rassilon said smugly. “According to our new prophecy, your freakish condition will be our salvation. With my power, I can send you out of the time-lock and through time itself.” 

The Master gave a quizzical look. Why would Rassilon want to save him from Gallifrey’s fate? Unless he was actually saving himself of course... 

“Ah, I see that you are beginning to understand. Allow me to make my intentions all the more clear to you.” 

He motioned to one of the guards who raised a large syringe, loaded with a dripping needle.

The Master struggled helplessly against the guards holding him in place in silent protest as the third guard injected the contents of the syringe into a vein in his neck. His energy painfully fluctuated once more as the the liquid entered his bloodstream. 

As the shock of the injection wore off, he looked up to Rassilon, unable to hide his terror at the prospect of what the liquid may have been. 

“That,” Rassilon began, “was a solution originally developed to track escaped prisoners over long distances but, coupled with the energy draining out of your body, the signal produced will be strong enough for us to track your location through space and time to an uninhabited planet of no significance... until now.”

He raised his gauntleted palm to reveal a tiny version of the planet he spoke of. 

“Soon, it will be forever remembered as the place the Time Lords returned to the universe,” Rassilon said, his voice swelling with pride. 

“And of course,” he continued, “who could forget your beloved Doctor? The signal will also function to strand him there with you, making it easy to take my revenge once and for all.” 

The reality of the situation was hitting the Master in waves of horror. His sacrifice on Earth was being rendered useless and he would once again, be nothing but a pawn in Rassilon’s scheme.

“Nothing to say?” Rassilon said, smirking and then addressed a guard: “Let us hear this freak’s last words, shall we?” 

Following the unspoken order, the guard removed the tape from the Master’s mouth, allowing him to speak at last. 

“If I’m your link, then your plan will fail. I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but I’m dying,” the Master said, the last word almost coming out as a laugh. 

But Rassilon just smiled. “Ah but that’s the beauty of it: the link feeds on a lack of energy. The more energy that leaves your wretched form, the stronger the link becomes. When you die, the signal will be at its strongest and allow us to complete our return.”

The Master spluttered. There had to be some way to stop this. There just had to be. 

“Well, I’ll tell the Doctor everything you’ve told me!” he shouted at last, in desperation. “We stopped you before and we’ll do it again.” 

“That’s a very nice sentiment,” Rassilon said, still smiling, “but I think you’ll find that difficult to do when you can’t remember anything that’s happened since you passed through the time-lock.” 

Just as the Master was about to question what that was supposed to mean, Rassilon faced his palm, still projecting the planet, towards the Master and, as if on cue, the guards restraining him let him go. 

Before he could even begin to defend himself against what was happening, he realized that his memories were indeed beginning to fade. 

He gripped his face, as if urging the memories to stay, barely realizing that he was being pulled through the time-lock until his energy began to fluctuate wildly. 

The Master was hurtling towards the surface of the planet Rassilon has shown him and yet forgetting it as it happened and losing consciousness rapidly. He had to try and remember what he was forgetting but last thing that he could remember was the bright light of the time-lock closing and then... 

He hit the ground and knew no more. 

//

The Master awoke with a start. He had just experienced his worst energy fluctuation yet and lost consciousness on the TARDIS. 

He looked around for the Doctor but the TARDIS was gone and he was surrounded by nothing but black emptiness. 

“Hello?” he called out into the blackness in vain, receiving no answer except for an echo of his own voice. 

He looked down, studying his hands, which almost seemed to glow in comparison to his dark surroundings. 

“Am I dead?” he asked himself at last, fearing the answer. 

Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a white flicker in the dark and looked up to see the woman in white, watching him. 

The Master was instantly sure that he knew her but couldn’t remember how. He stared at her intently, trying to place her until, at once, he knew. 

“I know who you are,” he announced to her. “You’re-“

But before he could finish, the woman snapped her fingers and suddenly the fall to Gallifrey, the new prophecy, the injection of the link that would allow the Time Lords to return, it was all flooding back. 

At last, he remembered it all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope that you all find this chapter as enjoyable as the first two! 
> 
> It went through an intense drafting process to keep the technobabble to a minimum and yet still have it make as much sense as Doctor Who generally makes so I hope that it’s acceptable! 
> 
> I’m really looking forward to getting the next chapter out and hopefully it won’t take quite as long but, in the meantime, if you enjoyed Chapter 3, please leave a kudo and maybe even a comment if you’re feeling generous because I do read them and appreciate them so much!


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